Chapter 172 Welcome To The Sewers

"Please don't tell me you're going to…" Olivia stuttered. Lee Seng's wild eyes and wide smile turned to look at all of his friends.

"Do you trust me?" Lee Seng asked. They all began to stutter something when their ears all started to catch the noise of people running towards them. "I'll go first and catch you at the bottom!" Lee Seng moved forward and stared at the darkness below him. "White Fox Cloak." Lee Seng muttered. He turned to look at his friends one last time before he was about to jump.

"They're here!" Liz shouted.

"Dammit, we have to all jump now!" Lee Seng shouted.

"W-what? We could ju-just…!" Evan stuttered. Lee Seng sighed and moved himself into the middle of the pack of the group. He put his hands together and felt the familiar vibration resonating and pulsing in his hands.

'Expand and surround the group. Bend the gravity so we safely land…' Lee Seng thought. Purple bolts of lightning flew out, followed by Ritsuka's scattered swords piercing at the red hounds.

"There he is!" A golden-accented hound pointed. "Get em!" The golden-accented hound's body pulsed and created a resonance with the red hounds. The red hounds' bodies began to grow and Lee Seng turned. He shoved his hands forward, moving himself and everyone forcefully off the end. The group began to scream as they started to descend.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Lee Seng pulled his hands away and quickly circled them back together. The gravity around the group started to pulse and a small thin barrier of gravity formed around the entire group. The group continued to fall into the dark abyss below.

"The ground!" Manny shouted. "It's coming, Lee Seng!"

"Come on…! Gravity bubble!" Lee Seng felt a bigger pulse release from the core of his body and the thin layer of bubble expanded and the group quickly suspended in the air, slowly falling.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Evan shouted. His eyes were closed.

"Evan! We're fine!" Lee Seng grabbed Evan. Evan flinched as Lee Seng dragged him and the scared Evan down. Manny landed first followed by Lee Seng and Evan. Ritsuka and the girls continued to slowly float in the air.

"H-how do we…?" Liz was interested in the gravity bubble and continued to float while Olivia flailed her arms around, pulling herself left and right.

"Uhh, Lee Seng. How do we ge-get down?" Ritsuka asked.

"You could act like you're swimming and just pull yourself to me or I could pull you."

"Pull me!" Olivia quickly shouted. Lee Seng nodded and reached his hands up to his three friends.

'Thank god they aren't wearing skirts…' Lee Seng slowly pulled the three closer to him. The three began to move towards Lee Seng. They landed on the floor and a collective sigh released. Lee Seng turned around and moved out of the bubble, popping it. Earth's gravity was back in effect and they felt their weights come back on them.

Evan stumbled as Ritsuka supported him from behind.

"Woah, dude. You're fine." Ritsuka reassured Evan.

"Y-yeah… I-I-I…. I'm f-f-fine…" Evan stuttered. Lee Seng glanced around and listened to the sound of water rushing.

'Are these the sewers?' Lee Seng wondered. His body lit the area around them. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness, easily. 'I never realized my eyes have been adjusting to the darkness so easily.'

'City lights don't make you notice the difference, huh?' Keng asked. Lee Seng shook his head.

'It really doesn't. I didn't think I could see like it's daytime.'

'Our bond is stronger now that you have two tails. We both grow stronger as time goes on.'

'Mmm, it must be even if I can't feel anything physically.' Lee Seng stretched his fingers. The weird feeling grew in his chest again.

"Lee Seng, don't wander too far." Manny called him out. Lee Seng snapped out of his thoughts. He didn't notice he wandered further down the sewers while talking to Keng. The strange feeling had flooded back into his mind as he turned around. His friends were still standing in the same spot.

"Pull out your phones. We can light our way with that." Olivia told the group. Lee Seng wandered back to the group as they all turned their flashlights on. The gold and white light sparkled around Lee Seng as he looked at the group.

"Why did you go over there? Are you scouting or something?" Manny asked. Lee Seng felt the strange feeling in his core grow.

'In the panic, I forgot I was acting all quiet and awkward.' Lee Seng reminded himself. He shrugged and looked up.

"Where do we go from here then? That drop off sent us to the sewers?" Ritsuka asked.

"There was supposed to be a gradual descent to the sewers but since we leapt off and landed down here, it's going to be harder to get out of this underground maze."

"Well, we can't follow procedures and head to the mansion so we have to figure out where we need to go." Liz reminded the group.

"How did those hounds know about the underground safety procedure, though?" Olivia asked. She did bring up a good question.

'How did they know?' Lee Seng pondered.

"They must've gotten good information about the underground system. It's a labyrinth down here, so it'll be hard to keep track of all the students." Manny guessed. He didn't even want to think about how they got information on the underground labyrinth. It was something that didn't come up in conversation so easily and even if it did, the students had to be careful about what they talked about.

"I'm more interested in why they're interested in Lee Seng." Evan nodded over at Lee Seng. The group turned to look at him.

"Yeah, why?" Liz asked. "Why is he the one they need?"

"It doesn't matter." Manny interjected. "If they want him because he's supposedly the guy they're after, then we just need to make sure he gets far away from this place."

'Should I tell them…? Manny would probably be the least shocked by the fact I have a Protocol coursing through my veins. We heard talks about it all the time as kids, but the others…' Lee Seng shook his head and sighed.

"Let's just try to get out of this confusing underground place. I don't think I should keep this up. It'll be a disadvantage if we have to walk in the darkness like this." Lee Seng spoke.

"Mmm, that's a good idea." Liz nodded. "There should be lights down here at some point… I just don't know what this is."

"We're completely going in blind?" Ritsuka asked.

"We don't have another choice. Let's go before they find us." Olivia motioned. Lee Seng released the cloak and faded into the darkness.

"Can any of you see the darkness well?" Lee Seng asked. He glanced at the phone lights and took that as his answer.

"Manny, stick next to Lee Seng since he has great night vision. We'll follow your light. Keep close, alright?" Liz instructed.

"Will do." Manny nodded. He looked at Lee Seng and motioned. "Come on, let's go."

Manny patted Lee Seng and the group moved forward. The group followed the pathways off of the side. They moved through the large opening in the middle and the sound of spilling water grew louder. Lee Seng watched as the side pathways curved and a large circular metallic pipe spilled water into the middle part of the sewer hall.

"There's sewage water in the middle section. Stay near the wall." Lee Seng spoke. Lights moved over to the slow moving water. The stench of sewage filled their noses and Lee Seng ignored the smell.

"So, what happens when we get out of this place?" Lee Seng asked. "Do we call for help?"

"If others followed the procedures and called the Academy like Ritsuka did, the Academy should already be handling the problem. We just have to deal with the stragglers and get out of this god forsaken place." Manny covered his nose. Lee seng noticed a bridge coming up and tapped Manny's hand.

"Careful. We're gonna go on a metal bridge." Lee Seng grabbed Manny's hand as Manny tapped on the next person behind him. They all began to slowly move across the bridge. The sound of water went to their left as Lee Seng stopped and looked left and right.

"W-why did you stop?" Manny asked as the group stumbled and readjusted themselves.

"There's a door to the left." Lee Seng pointed. Manny and the others lifted their phone lights over to the door but could barely see anything. Lee Seng released Manny's hand as he took a step forward. He was hearing a strange noise coming from behind the door.

"Where are you going?" Ritsuka asked.

"Let me just check the door, alright? Maybe we can get information on how to navigate this place." Lee Seng answered. He moved over to stand in front of the door and hesitantly grabbed the door handle. He started to twist it and listened as the door knob actually started to turn.

'This is unlocked…'